As I said the day after the primary election, the campaign has entered into a new phase.

There are now two candidates. We each have a record and the public has a right to know the details of what a candidate has, or has not done, in the public arena.

I have balanced four budgets and have cut taxes twice.

My opponent? He voted for a large tax increase—the gas tax—and opposed Governor Heineman’s proposal for $500 million tax relief for individuals, families and businesses, calling it “voodoo economics”.

Then, he worked to put the state of Nebraska on the hook for a HUGE new obligation by expanding Obamacare.

I have the fiscal note for that bill—LB 1032 in the 2016 session. Take a look at it—Mr. Mello’s action would trigger a new obligation by the state totaling $111 million over the next five years.

My opponent has voted to raise taxes … he has opposed a reasonable tax cut . . . and he has voted for more and more spending.

That’s not what the people of Omaha want.

Keep in mind that Mr. Mello has been criticizing me for the better part of the last month in his TV ads.

Well, I’m firing back. And everything I say in our new ad is true.

It’s Mr. Mello who needs to stop his misrepresentations.

He repeated the untruth at his news conference today that I somehow have obligated $30 million in city funds for a streetcar. That is not true.

We would not obligate so much as a dime for this until the voters decide the issue in a referendum.

Then he claims that I asked the state for road repair money using the new revenue from the gas tax increase.

I asked the state for road improvement funds under the Build Nebraska Act—that was passed in 2011. That’s a great law that then-senator Deb Fischer sponsored. And, Mr. Mello voted against it. Another source could be the Innovation Act.

Ladies and gentlemen, I look forward to the next 22 days of the campaign.

I will stand on my record.

Mr. Mello apparently wants to run away from his—but I will not let him do that.